Driver, Frederick William: Service no. 53449

Source: 18th Battalion Nominal Roll, April 1915.

Find-A-Grave

Summary of Service[i] for Private Frederick William Driver, reg. no. 53449

Date	Event	Remarks
October 20, 1895	Born	Born Suffolk, England.
Circa 1900 – 1914	Immigrates to Canada	Immigrates to Canada and appears to reside in Woodstock, Ontario.
October 26, 1914	Enlists	Enlists with the 18^th Battalion at Woodstock, Ontario. He is a 19-year-old labourer and lists his sister, Bernice Close (No. 14 Married Quarters, The Barracks, Inniskilling, Ireland) as his next-of-kin. This 5’8” man has no prior military experience and has a blonde medium complexion, gray eyes, and blonde hair. He agrees to the mandatory series of Typhoid inoculations.[ii]
December 14, 1914	Mulct Pay	$2.20 of pay withheld per DO 42.
February 1915	Mulct Pay	1 day’s pay ($1.00) withheld. DO 87.
April 18, 1915	Embarks	Embarks SS Grampian at Halifax, Nova Scotia, for England.
April 29, 1915	Disembarks	Disembarks Avonmouth and arrives West Sandling Camp same day.
May 8, 1915	Brother KIA	Brother Private Leonard Driver KIA during the 2^nd Battle of Ypres. His battalion suffered 700 casualties.
June 19, 1915	Forfeits Pay	Forfeits 3-day’s pay for being AWL. Possibly to visit family.
September 15, 1915	Arrives	Arrives with the Battalion in France in transit to Belgium for active service.
February 1, 1916	Memorandum	Memorandum for the Officer i/c of Records regarding a question of there is a sum of money due Private William Driver from the estate of his brother, Private Leonard Driver, reg. no. 9300 to the Royal Lancaster Regiment, 2^nd Division. This man served with the King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment, 2^nd Battalion. He died on May 8, 1915, at the age of 25-years old and is commemorated at the Menin Gate (Panel 12).
July 7, 1916	Makes Will	Leaves real and personal estate to a Mrs. E. Fox, 65 West Street, Farnham, Surrey.
September 19, 1916	Promoted	Promoted Corporal.
April 9, 1917	Wounded	Wounded during the attack on Vimy Ridge. Suffers a GSW to the right hip.
April 10, 1917	Admitted	Admitted to No. 2 Stationary Hospital, Boulogne.
April 15, 1917	Admitted and TOS	Admitted to Duchess of Connaught Hospital and TOS with WORD.
April 23, 1917	X-rays	X-rays taken of wound.
August 9, 1917	Reverts to Private	Reverts to private on own request. This may be an attempt to get back to the front to fight with another unit if his wounds healed and changed his designation to that of being able to be fit for active service.
December 5, 1917	Proceeds of a Medical Board	He has an “inability to walk properly” due to the fact his wound keeps re-healing and during this process he cannot walk. The board must think there is potential for him to heal as they have denied discharge due to medical reasons.
January 3, 1918	Transferred	Transferred to No. 15 Canadian General Hospital.
March 24, 1918	Transferred	Transferred to No. 11 Canadian General Hospital, Moore Barracks, Shorncliffe.
May 9, 1918	Transferred	Transferred to Military Convalescent, Epsom.
June 19, 1918	Transferred	Transferred to the “Manor” due to influenza. This is the Manor War Hospital, Epsom.
July 6, 1918	Admitted or Resident At	Convalescent Hospital, Woodcote Park, Epsom. Medical report states “Returned from Manor after attack of influenza. Feeling fine no complaints. W’s [wounds] in buttock healed well. No disability.”
July 30, 1918	Admitted	Admitted to the Manor.
August 3, 1918	Admitted	Admitted No. 16 Canadian General Hospital.
October 25, 1918	Admitted or Resident At	Massey-Harris Convalescent Hospital, “Kingswood”, Dulwich.
August 23, 1918	Anti-Tetanus Shot	ATS this date. 500 units.
September 5, 1918	X-rays Taken	3 x-rays with notes taken.
December 2, 1918	Admitted	Admitted to 16^th Canadian General Hospital, Orpington.
December 17, 1918	Discharged	Discharged from above.
December 27, 1918	On Command	On Command to 1^st CCD at Buxton.
December 28, 1918	Attached	Attached to CDD Buxton for return to Canada per Part II oders.
January 4, 1919	Embarks	Embarks SS Grampian at Liverpool for Canada.
January 24, 1919	SOS and TOS	SOS to CEF in Canada to No. 1 MD.
February 4, 1919	Posted	Posted to Casualty Company and granted furlough with subsistence allowance to February 18, 1919.
February 19, 1919	Dental Exam	3 amalgams completed.
February 24, 1919	Discharged	Discharged at No. 1 MD, London, Ontario as medically unfit. Apparently, his complexion is not ruddy, his eyes are brown, and his hair is brown. He is issued with War Service Badge, Class A no. 82617 and B no. 52271. He indicates is place of residence is going to be 716 Nelson Street, Woodstock, Ontario.
Post-War	Change of Address Card	Not dated. Changed address from 716 Nelson Street, Woodstock, Ontario to 749 Logan Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Acronyms

AWL	Absent Without Leave: Generally, a soldier would be deducted 1-days pay for every day absent. In some cases, the soldier would be confined to barracks. Sometimes it was a combination of both.
A Classification	Medical Board Classification that determined your fitness for duty. A1, A2, A3 and A4 were assigned to different units with the expectation that these men would be able to serve with active combat units. See this link for more information.
B Classification	Medical Board Classification that determined your fitness for duty. B1, B2, and B3 were assigned to different service units such as railway and forestry corps. See this link for more information.
D Classification	See this link for more information.
CAMC	Canadian Army Medical Corp
CB	Confined to Barracks: a punishment for minor infractions.
CCD	Casualty Convalescent Depot: a depot at a base where men, in their final stages of convalescing, would be prepared for duty depending on their rating.
CCH	Casualty Clearing Hospital
CCRC	Canadian Corps Reserve Camp
CCS	Casualty Clearing Station: this facility was attached to rail transportation from the front to hospitals on the coast of France
CDC	Canadian Dispatch Camp
CFA	Canadian Field Ambulance/Canadian Field Artillery. Most common usage would be Canadian Field Ambulance.
DAH	Disorderly Action of the Heart
DRS	Divisional Rest Station
GSW	Gun Shot Wound – this was a generic term for all projectile penetrating wounds.
In the Field	This term relates to a soldier arriving at an active-duty unit after transporting from England, to France, and then to his duty assignment. The routing varied from soldier to soldier and could take 2-3 days to several months.
MD	Military District
PUO	Pyrexia of Unknown Origin: This was a term used for any illness that could not clearly be identified and typically was related to influenza symptoms.
SOS	Struck Off Strength
TOS	Taken On Strength
CAMC	Canadian Army Medical Corp
CCH	Casualty Clearing Hospital
CFA	Canadian Field Ambulance
DRS	Divisional Rest Station
GSW	Gun Shot Wound – this was a generic term for all projectile penetrating wounds.
MD	Military District
PUO	Pyrexia of Unknown Origin
SOS	Struck Off Strength
TOS	Taken On Strength
WORD	Western Ontario Regimental Depot

[i] The Summary of Service for this soldier is meant as just that, a summary of his service. It is not intended to be an exhaustive biographical relation of his life or his war service. Some information may be deliberately suppressed by the author out of sensitivity to the soldier. Readers are encouraged to reference the actual service records available at the Library and Archives Canada in PDF format if they wish to learn more about this soldier. Such additional information (i.e. hyperlinks etc.) are for informational purpose only and no claim to verification or accuracy is made by the author of this summary.

[ii] This soldier does not appear to assign his pay to a relative. This is unusual.